The 135i will come with an AGM battery!

[crzy4135i]

In my opinion, the regenerative alternator stuff is a gimmick but I'm happy it requires use of an AGM battery. I wonder which brand they'll use in the 135i?

http://www.odysseyfactory.com/why.htm


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absorbed_Glass_Mat

[Matt60158]

Great news. I have been using an odyssey 680MJT for 2 years and the performance has been flawless. Not to mention dropping over 20 lbs versus my conventional battery.

[atr_hugo]

Here's a pic of the battery in the trunk of the 135i on the show floor in Chicago:

[aus]

Originally Posted by crzy4135i

In my opinion, the regenerative alternator stuff is a gimmick but I'm happy it requires use of an AGM battery. I wonder which brand they'll use in the 135i?

Why do you think it's a gimmick? If you brake properly, your engine isn't turning the alternator at all. Add that to a deep cycle battery and it's a pretty clever system. It's kinda half ass here because it still uses the hydrolic power steering, but someday they'll get the electric power steering right.

[crzy4135i]

Originally Posted by Matt60158

Great news. I have been using an odyssey 680MJT for 2 years and the performance has been flawless. Not to mention dropping over 20 lbs versus my conventional battery.

Same here.. I ran the 680 for a couple years no problem then bought a 925 after I had to get jump started one day. Come to find out it was an electrical problem, not the battery. Once I fixed that issue the 680 worked fine. My stock battery was 45lb, 680 is 15lb, and the 925 is around 25lb.

[crzy4135i]

Originally Posted by atr_hugo

Here's a pic of the battery in the trunk of the 135i on the show floor in Chicago:

It appears the battery used by bmw is made by Banner Batteries.

http://www.bannerbatterien.com/banne...GB29052007.pdf

The battery used in the 135i is rated at 90 amp hours. I'm having trouble finding the weight of the battery on the banner website, but if you look at a similarly rated Odyssey AGM battery it weighs 77lb!

http://www.odysseyfactory.com/battspecs.html (model 31/31m)

So.. we're going to lug around a battery that weighs 50lb more than a pc925 so the car can shut itself off at stoplights..

It just so happens that a spare tire weighs approximately 50lb. I'm pretty sure I would rather have a spare tire and better performing non-runflat tires.. than have a monster battery to support stoplight engine shutdowns.


Hmm.. if there is a sensor at the battery.. what happens if you remove the oem monster battery and install a 25lb Odyssey AGM? The voltage sensor will realize the smaller battery is running low and will defeat the other stuff, right? hehe..

[atr_hugo]

Nice find. Thanks!

[Nixon]

Originally Posted by crzy4135i

So.. we're going to lug around a battery that weighs 50lb more than a pc925 so the car can shut itself off at stoplights..

It just so happens that a spare tire weighs approximately 50lb. I'm pretty sure I would rather have a spare tire and better performing non-runflat tires.. than have a monster battery to support stoplight engine shutdowns.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the 128i or 135i are getting the stoplight engine shutdown feature.

That's not the same as the regenative alt. thingie.

[clived]

Nixon, you're correct - the 6 cylinder petrols do not have it.

[larryn]

The 135i already has ballast mounted into the rear bumper (we're not sure of the weight of it yet, but it was confirmed in this thread), so it comes closer to 50-50 weight distribution. removing weight from the rear of the car doesn't seem like a great idea to me, if you want to keep the dynamics of the car, as intended.

Obviously, weight distribution is an issue, if BMW put a weight on the rear bumper to balance things out.

[mikeo]

Knowing gearheads, don't you think it'll be about 1 hour after 1-Series realease that someone will remove the rear ballast? Curious to hear the results.

[Oregon]

Originally Posted by larryn

The 135i already has ballast mounted into the rear bumper (we're not sure of the weight of it yet, but it was confirmed in this thread), so it comes closer to 50-50 weight distribution. removing weight from the rear of the car doesn't seem like a great idea to me, if you want to keep the dynamics of the car, as intended.

Originally Posted by mikeo

Knowing gearheads, don't you think it'll be about 1 hour after 1-Series realease that someone will remove the rear ballast? Curious to hear the results.

Was wondering if I was the only one thinking this. Should it turn out we don't want to retain the built-in dynamics of the car, no doubt some forum member will remove said weight then share mach schnell the magic.

[mikeo]

Question is, Surname, which one of us three will it be? :wink:

[cracka]

The ballast may be there to counter that heavy oil cooler assembly ahead of the forward axle. Are you gonna pull that too? :wink:

[mikeo]

I don't think I'd go that far, cracka, but a hunk of iron ballast? Hell yeah! It's advertised as there to assist with 50/50 weight, but you know in your heart BMW AG put it there to slow us down so the new M3 wouldn't have such a serious competitor. :wink:

[Oregon]

Originally Posted by mikeo

Question is, Surname, which one of us three will it be? :wink:

My money is on Larry.:biggrin:

[Mpulse]

It's simple, take the weight out of the rear bumper at the same time you either put a spare tire in the trunk or replace the hood with CF.

[ChrisK]

Originally Posted by atr_hugo

Here's a pic of the battery in the trunk of the 135i on the show floor in Chicago:

At the Chicago Auto Show, Hugo and I were joking about losing 20lbs+ by simply changing the battery!

[ARES45]

Wouldn't loosing the ballast help eliminate understear?

[mikeo]

Originally Posted by ARES45

Wouldn't loosing the ballast help eliminate understear?

I'm thinking not. Handling experts (spelled r-a-c-e-r-s), say to work on the end that is having the problem. In this case understeer = front end. Weight off the front might assist a little with turn in and maybe understeer, but the really big improvements witll most likely come from more rubber and negative camber (and yes, springs/coilovers and bars if you want to keep going with the mods).

[ARES45]

Thanks Mikeo, what affects would you forsee from removing the ballast? I am not likely to do it because if my car (with an auto) sees any track time it will simply be for fun, I am just curious.

[larryn]

Removing weight from the rear would likely cause it to not throttle-oversteer as easily, and could make it plow (understeer) more... in theory. In practice, who knows.

I am thinking that the ballast is not for BMW marketing, just so they can say it's 52/48 versus 54/46. (for example) I would hope that they did it for handling.

Btw, adding a spare tire to the trunk would eliminate using the trunk for most things, and you can't have one in there on the track, where handling would matter the most. It definitely will not fit in any space under the carpet (I can say that since it's not even possible on the e90). The muffler takes up too much of the well under the carpet for a spare to fit - even a space saver model.